


Digging Deeper

by Thefallofgallifrey



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: IronHawk - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-19
Updated: 2013-06-27
Packaged: 2017-11-26 00:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 12,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/644619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thefallofgallifrey/pseuds/Thefallofgallifrey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony wants to find out more about Clint after hacking into Nick Fury's personal files.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tony smiled; hacking into Director Fury's personal files was perhaps the greatest idea of all time. It had took less than five minutes for the genius to break through Fury's firewall and start searching for anything worth reading. He clicked a folder titled "Non-existent Security Footage" and the only .AVI file inside was labeled "S.H.I.E.L.D Christmas Party 2004".

As the video played Stark scanned the crowd for any familiar faces. Quickly he recognized Coulson, Maria, and Clint standing together drinking. By the looks of it the three of them were already pretty buzzed, as Hill leaned over on Clint. Then out of nowhere Clint took Coulson's face in his hands and planted a kiss on his lips. Tony's jaw dropped, no sure exactly what to make of the footage. The screen went black seconds after the kiss and Tony returned back to his own files.

He pulled up the S.H.I.E.L.D personal files and decided to do some reading. According to files Clint held no importance until he was recruited by Coulson. There wasn't much useful information. Tony sighed and leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the desk. He really didn't know much about Hawkeye at all; the thought sounded more like a challenge than a statement.

Tony headed up stairs from his workshop and rummaged through the kitchen searching for something to eat. He pulled the fridge and the freezer open at the same time and scanned them up and down; a bright colored wrapper in the very top of the freezer caught his eye. He pulled it out and wondered who decided to freeze gummy worms, then he remember watching Clint and Natasha unpack the groceries a few days ago when he was arguing with Bruce at the counter over subatomic particles. He shrugged and figured that gummy worms were good in themselves and were probably just as good frozen.

Stark sucked on a frozen gummy worm as he watched the evening news on the TV in the living room. He had to admit, frozen gummy worms were actually amazing and the news was holding no interest. He put another gummy worm in his mouth as the weather lady something about clear skies for the weekend and other weather related stuff.

"Are you eating my gummy worms?" Somebody asked harshly.

Tony looked over and found Clint standing shirtless in the doorway, "Yeah, it looks like I am." Stark stated eating another one.

"Why exactly are you eating MY gummy worms?" Clint said stepping into the room.

"Why are they frozen?" Tony pondered, completely ignoring the assassin's question.

Clint jumped forward and tried to grab the bag but Tony got it first and jumped behind the couch, "You know I buy those with my money Stark and not everybody is a billionaire." Barton added.

"Maybe you should learn how to share." Tony suggested crossing his arms across his chest.

"Maybe you should stay out of other peoples stuff." Clint retorted.

"Maybe I would if I actually knew that you had stuff." Stark scuffed.

"Maybe if you actually came out of your workshop you would know." Clint said raising his voice a little.

"You know every time I do come out of my workshop you're on the roof. Do you have a nest up there or something?" Tony replied flatly. It looked like Clint was about to jump over the couch at Tony when Stark tossed him what was left of the gummy bears, "Don't ruffle your feathers Bird Brain, you can have your frozen gummy worms back."

Clint caught the bag of candy and walked back out the way he came. Tony ran his hand through his hair and sighed before grabbing a soda and going back down to his workshop.


	2. Chapter 2

"Damn it!" Tony yelled as he dropped the wrench he was holding on his bare foot. Fixing the dent in his helmet was taking longer than he had expected. The last time he had glanced at the clock it had read five past midnight and this time it was almost two in the morning.

"Need some help?" A voice sounded from behind him, making him jump back.

Tony turned to see Clint leaning against one of his cars with a severe case of bed head. "What are you, Nocturnal?" He asked picking the wrench up and setting it back on the worktop.

Clint shrugged, "Sometimes."

Tony yawned and shoved his helmet aside, finally too tired to continue fixing it, "So, Clint. To what do I owe this visit too?"

Clint shoved his hands into the pockets on his red pajama pants, "Well, I just felt like I should apologize for snapping at you earlier, I was having a bad day and I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." The assassin said sincerely.

Tony ducked his head and smiled a bit, "You don't have to apologize really, I antagonized you. I just wanted to see you reaction." He confessed, rubbing the back of his neck.

Clint furrowed his brow, "Why exactly?" He asked puzzled.

Tony sighed and walked over to his computer, Clint tagging along behind him. Tony sat down in his chair and Clint looked over his shoulder as Tony played the video he had found in Fury's files.

Tony watched Clint's reaction instead of the tape and he could have sworn Clint was blushing a little.

"How did you even find that?" Clint asked loudly, "Coulson and I destroyed every copy."

Tony held back a laugh, "Apparently you missed the one in Nick Fury's personal blackmail file." He said as Clint reached across his lap and deleted the file.

Clint stood up and ran his hands throw his already messy blonde hair, "Do me a favor and delete the original copy of that."

"Jarvis, you heard the man." Tony said to the AI.

"Of course, sir." The AI replied.

There was an awkward silence until Tony spoke up, "So, how did THAT even happen." He said referring to the kiss.

Clint shrugged, "Well, I was obviously drunk and Hill dared me to do it so I did. I don't think Coulson enjoyed it much though." He explained easily.

"Oh." Tony said, feeling a pang of disappointment.

"Yeah." Clint mumbled.

There was another silence before Tony stood up and wiped his hands on his jeans, "Well it's time for me to hit the hay. See you in the morning Hawky."

"If by morning you mean two in the afternoon then yeah, see you in the morning Tony." Clint said with a crooked smile.

Tony chuckled and clapped Clint on the shoulder before disappearing down the hallway. Tony fell into bed that night without even changing. Humming face first into his pillow. He still felt like he knew nothing about Clint and that had to change. He didn't know what Clint's deal was but he knew how to figure it out.

"Jarvis," He yelled rolling over in the bed so his voice wasn't muffled by the pillow.

"Yes," The voice replied.

"Remind me when I wake up tomorrow to have a talk with Agent Romanov." The genius requested with a yawn.

"Of course Mr. Stark." The AI promised, "Have a good night's sleep." The voice said turning off the lights but Tony was already asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost noon when Tony dragged himself into the kitchen for a cup of coffee, "What's on the books for today, J?" He asked half asleep.

"The only thing you have requested I record for today is a meeting with Agent Romanov." The AI answered diligently.

Tony nodded as the previous night's events came back to him as he sipped his coffee. When he finished his drink Tony went back to his room and changed into a fresh pair of clothes and then headed down to the gym where Natasha was usually found training or something along those lines. The genius paused outside of the gym as he wondered exactly why he was there but before he could come up with an answer he heard Natasha call from inside the gym, "I know you're out there Stark."

He sighed and pushed open the large door, "You never miss a thing do you?" He asked as Natasha unwrapped her hands.

Natasha shrugged, "What do you want this time?" the assassin asked.

"Why does everyone always assume I want something? I mean how do you know I didn't come down here just to ask how you day is going?" Tony fumed.

Natasha smirked, "Because you're Tony Stark."

Stark huffed, "Yeah well." Natasha dropped to the floor and pulled out a bottle of water, motioning for Tony to join her on the mat. Tony stepped forward and sat down in front of Natasha, rubbing his face.

"So what exactly do you want?" Natasha asked again.

Tony paused, "Yesterday, I was snooping around Fury's personal files and I came across some information and it just got me thinking." He explained vaguely.

Natasha raised an eyebrow, "What type of information about who?"

"I found a video, of um, Clint back in 2004." He confessed rubbing the palms of his hands together.

"You mean," Natasha started to laugh, "The video of the Christmas party?"

Tony shook his head, "Yeah, that video. I, uh, I asked Clint about it last night and he said it was just a dare but still. What is his um, what's his story?" He asked nervously.

"Clint grew up in the circus, got into some trouble and was recruited by Coulson. He worked his way up the ranks to where he is now. He has a brother and a few other friends outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. There not much background to tell really." Natasha explained, leaning back.

"Okay, but I mean like. What is he, like, uh, you know." Tony kind of asked.

Natasha laughed, "Are you asking me if he is gay, Tony?"

Stark shrugged, "I guess I am."

Natasha shook her head, "Clint isn't gay Tony. I mean, we had a thing remember."

Tony did remember back when Clint and Natasha were sort of together and frowned.

"Hey, he isn't straight either. Clint is bisexual. I mean, he has had a few male partners here and there and I think he had a boyfriend back in the circus." Natasha told him, "I don't see why…" She paused again before getting a crazy smile on her face, "I don't see why you would care unless you, I don't know, liked him or something."

Tony's face went instantly red, "What! No, I don't like Hawkeye! I don't even want a relationship, remember? I'm done. No more." He demanded a little too loudly.

"Did somebody say my name?" A voice said from behind.

Tony jumped instantly, turning around to see Clint leaning against the door, "Yeah, Tony was just telling me about that video he found." Natasha said before Tony could recover.

Clint sighed and rolled his eyes, "Anyways, I'm going to get subway, you two want anything?" He asked. Tony and Natasha shook their head, "Okay, see you guys later." He said leaving.

Tony let out a large breath of air and fell onto his back, "Don't be an idiot Stark. Just remember, if you hurt him I can kill you in more ways than you can even imagine." Natasha threatened padding out of the gym.

Stark starred at the ceiling for a long time before getting up and going over to his workshop and starting back on his helmet, trying to block any more thoughts about the master assassin out of his head.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony stayed in his lab for most of the day, just fiddling around with small things to keep busy. He tried his best to keep his thoughts on his work but they kept swerving to the archer. Tony pushed them aside, he had promised himself after he and Pepper split up that he wouldn't fall for anyone else but the more he thought about Clint, the more the assassin became desirable. He was good looking and had a unique personality, not to mention his high skill set and the fact he helped save the world on multiple occasions. Then a loud scream broke his train of thought.

"FUCK! DAMN IT STARK!" He heard Clint yell from the hallway.

Tony went to investigate and found the archer leaning against the wall holding his barefoot, "What did I do?" Tony asked offended that he was blamed for everything.

"I kicked your stupid board thing." Clint growled gesturing down the hall at a piece of equipment.

Tony rolled his eyes, "It's not my fault you weren't wearing shoes and plus you're a like super spy, I would think you would watch where you were walking."

The master assassin glared at the genius and started yelling something about idiocy or something, "Are you listening to anything I have to" Clint began to yell but was cut off by Tony slamming his lips to the archers.

He felt Clint stiffen beneath him and Tony pulled back, realizing what he did. He felt his cheeks warm and he directed his gaze at his toes. That was unplanned, but before he had a chance to apologize Clint pushed him against the wall and brought their lips together again, pressing their bodies together. Tony froze before relaxing into the kiss and wrapping his arms around Clint's neck.

By the time Clint pulled away, Tony's head was spinning, "Bruce wants you to know that dinner is ready." Barton said before disappearing down the hall way again.

Tony slouched against the wall for another moment before heading to the dining room where the rest of the Avengers were waiting.

"Took you long enough Stark." Natasha smirked like she knew too much.

Tony's eyes widened and he glanced at Clint before Natasha started to laugh. Tony frowned and sat down in between Banner and Thor and directly across from Clint. He ate his food and chatted with the rest of the team. Except for Clint, who was silent the whole time.

Tony was last to finish his plate and he headed to the living room to watch the news before walking to the elevator to go up to his room. As he waited Clint came down the hallway and passed him, so close that their shoulders touched. Tony got into the elevator and smiled. Two could play at that game.


	5. Chapter 5

The next afternoon Tony walked past the lab and noticed Clint sitting shirtless on one of the work desks chatting with Banner. He raised an eyebrow and went in without thinking.

"Hey Tony." Bruce said when he stepped through the threshold.

"Hey, I was on my way out, wanna come grab a bite to eat?" The billionaire asked as Clint turned around just enough that Tony could see jealousy flash across his face.

Bruce wiped his hand off on a rag, "Why not."

Tony held the door open and waited for the scientist to step through, "You can come to, if you like." He offered Clint with a grin.

Clint hopped off the desk and brushed past Tony, "I can't, I'm late for a sparring match with Cap."

The smile faded from Tony's face. That was well played. He and the Doctor went out and stopped in at Apple Bee's for lunch, Tony sat moving his food around with his fork looking out the window. It wasn't often somebody played hard to get with him and to be honest he hated it.

"So, Barton huh?" Bruce asked breaking the silence.

Stark looked back over to Banner, "What about him?" He asked a little too quickly. Bruce grinned and Tony sighed, of course Banner had figured it out, "Okay, yes, you're right, stop rubbing it in." He groaned taking a large gulp of his coke.

Banner shook his head, "I'm not teasing you Stark, I figured you get into another Avengers bed soon enough, I just didn't expect it to be Barton's." The scientist admitted.

Tony paused and raised an eyebrow, "Who did you… never mind I'm sure I'll find out later and its off topic." He said glancing over to the bar, the bartender was wiping down the bar getting ready for happy hour, "Anyways, I've got a plan." A grin spreading across his face.

Bruce chuckled lightly, "Okay Frankenstein, what's this master plan of yours?"

Tony shrugged, "It's quite simple really, I'm gonna get the hawk drunk."

"This should be entertaining." Banner said as Tony paid off the check.

Stark dropped Banner back off at the tower and quickly changed into some more presentable clothes, "I'll be back in about an hour J. Don't let them knock over the tower while I'm gone." He said as he pulled on his shoes.

"May I ask where you're going, Sir?" The AI replied.

"I've just gotta go pick up a few things. I'm a man with a plan." He laughed quickly fixing his hair.

"I'll keep the fire department on standby." The voice responded quickly.

Tony chuckled as he walked out the door. Tonight was definitely going to be fun.


	6. Chapter 6

Tony stocked the bar when he returned home, changing into jeans and a black tank top.

"JARVIS, where's Clint at?" He asked the AI leaning against the couch in his workshop.

"Agent Barton is currently on the roof."

Of course, "Could you tell him I would like to see him?" He requested.

"Your wish is my command, Sir." JARVIS replied.

Tony cleaned off his desk and made sure the whiskey was chilled while he waited for Clint to appear. It wasn't long before he heard the elevator ding and the doors swoosh open. "Hey, Birdman." He smiled as Clint walked into view.

Clint rolled his eyes, "You know I hate nicknames."

"Only I know that's a lie." The genius smirked pouring two glasses of whiskey and holding one out for Clint.

Clint raised an eyebrow, "This is why you wanted to see me?"

"Obviously, it's no fun to drink alone." Tony said walking over and handing Clint the alcohol before sitting down on the couch.

Clint took a sip before sitting down in Tony's desk chair and propelling himself across the room like a five year old, ending up directly in front of Tony. Tony smirked into his glass and Clint looked down into the vortex he was creating. This was going to be fun.

Tony woke up the next morning with a groan. He kept his eyes clamped shut as he stretched out his arms and rolled over letting them gently fall back to the bed on top if the person next to him. That's when Tony actually woke up.

"Morning, Stark." Clint yawned stretching out his arms.

Tony checked under the covers, he was still fully dressed, "um yeah, morning" he mumbled, shoving off the covers and heading for the shower. He undressed and stood beneath the hot water for a few minutes letting himself: 1. Wake up and 2. Recall what happened last night. He remembered going out and buy booze, A LOT of booze. Then he returned home to the tower and stocked the bar before inviting Clint down to have a drink. After that everything was blurry.

Tony sighed and turned off the water, shaking his head so his hair wouldn't drip on the carpet and wrapped a towel around his waist. He emerged from the bathroom and the archer was nowhere to be found, Tony sighed and headed for the closet. He slipped on a pair of black sweatpants and a white stark industries shirt (it was a lazy day) before heading back towards the bed where there was a small strip of paper resting on one of the pillows.

'Better luck next time.

Xx Clint'

Tony crumpled up the paper and threw it at the waste bin, missing by several feet before letting himself fall back into bed and moaning into the pillow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I whipped up this chapter in celebration. I FINALLY have my AO3 account. Anyways, I hope you have liked the story so far and heres the next chapter.

Tony only saw Clint one more time before the SHIELD agent was assigned a solo mission to Paris and disappeared for a week and a half. The meeting was a brief one, passing by each other in the hall between the Gym and the workshop, Tony smiled at Clint and Clint winked back making Tony's smile fade away as Clint brushed by swiftly and for almost two weeks Tony didn't see the Hawk.

He got pretty bored, really fast. So he tried inventing something new with Bruce, which only lead to a big mess to clean up, then he tried working out with Natasha and Steve. It only took a few minutes of watching the pair jump around the ring for him to realize it would probably be safer to jump off the Empire State Building without his suit on. He looked around the tower for Thor for a while until he remembered that the big guy was in New Mexico with Jane.

That left Tony with his last option, the most Tony-like option of all. He dressed up in a new suit and choose the most expensive Audi from the garage and hit the town, drawing every ones attention everywhere he went. He went to a random movie premiere that Pepper had been bugging him about but left about a quarter of the way through the first action sequence. Tony already saved the world; he didn't need to watch lame movies about it. From the red carpet, Tony headed to the bar. He needed a drink. He took off his jacket and tie and traded them for a pair of aviators before heading inside and taking a seat at the corner of the bar.

It didn't take long for people to realize who he was and after that it was only a matter of time before people started hitting on him left and right. He estimated that around 13 women and 9 men offered to buy him a drink but he politely declined. Something was off about him and he could feel it. The suitors weren't as attractive to him as normal, their jokes less funny, and the idea of sleeping with them less appealing by the minute. After about an hour and a half of sitting at the bar, Tony checked his phone. No calls and it was getting late, he paid his very small tab (he had only gotten maybe 3 drinks) and headed back for the tower.

Back in his room, the genius stripped out of his suit and into a pair of pajama pants and combed through his hair. He splashed some water on his face before sitting on his bed. "Jarvis, open up the shutters." He requested and the shutters disappeared, letting a faint light enter the room from the city below. Tony stood up and got closer to the windows, looking out on the city. The angle wasn't as nice as the one Clint got on the roof but still, Tony could tell why the archer liked to sit up there at night. It really was relaxing.

That night Tony slept with the shutters up and for the next 11 days he wondered around, fixing little things and focusing on whatever he could. He even reread The Lord of the Rings and watched the movies as well. But he still felt empty and he knew why but he wasn't going to admit it to himself. He was afraid to admit that he missed the archer because that meant he cared about him and that fact scared Tony more than anything. Caring is not Tony's strong point, actually most people Tony cared about or cares about end up in some sort of mortal danger because of him. So the genius kept himself as busy as he could in a tower with nothing of interest and waited for Clint to get back.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhh sorry that this is taking so long to come together. Im writing this whole fic on a whim so if you have any idea's as to were you would like to see it go leave them in the comments!

Tony was in the kitchen stealing some of Natasha's Nutella out of her secret stash when he heard the door open and he slammed the Nutella back into the cabinet and turned around with an innocent smile on his face expecting Tasha. Completely to his surprise it was Clint, his heart jumped as he noticed the brace around the archer's right knee and a wrap around his left shoulder. Clint half-smiled as Tony approached him, looking over him once again before pulling him into a gentle hug, burying his face into Clint's neck. "I missed you too." The marksmen chuckled retuning the hug.

Tony stepped back and pulled out a chair, "Do sit and tell me the story of your battle wounds." He turned back to the counter and again pulled out Natasha's Nutella and a loaf of bread.

Clint sat down, propping his ankle up on the table and leaning back in the chair, "I knew there was a reason I never liked Paris. There is a lot of Hydra spies located there and well when shit hit the fan I ended up on the bottom of the dog pile."

Tony nodded as he spread the Nutella onto the bread, "Seems like fun to me, French guys are pretty hot I wouldn't mind to be at the bottom of that pile."

Clint laughed, "I would have."

Tony turned around setting his toast on the table and taking a seat, "Is that so Agent Barton?"

Clint reached over and snatched a piece of the bread, "Of course, then you would have these injuries and I would have to deal with your nonstop whining."

"No way!" Tony exclaimed with his mouth full.

"Totally," The Archer disagreed, "Tony when you're hurt you are the biggest cry baby in the tower."

Tony rolled his eyes, "I'm beginning to wonder why I missed you in the first place."

Clint set down his toast, "You're lucky I even came back Stark."

Tony opened his mouth to question that statement when the door swung open and the resident Russian marched into the room, "Are you eating my Nutella?" She asked hands on her hips.

"Nope!" Tony shoved what was left of his piece in his mouth while Clint quickly slid his out of view.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "You should really learn to ask before you just take things for yourself."

"Pfft, you're one to lecture about that." Tony mumbled under his breathe which he soon came to regret.

"Hey Nat." Clint greeted her with a charming smile.

Natasha ruffled Clint hair as she passed by, "Hi." The assassin went straight to the snacks cabinet and snatched out the jar of Nutella before leaving the same way she had come in, no doubt taking the Nutella up to her room and out of Tony's reach.

Tony wiped his mouth with his sleeve, "Anyways, what do you mean that I'm lucky you came back?"

Clint hummed, "I was offered a job. A very tempting one running the field office at the SHIELD headquarters in Europe."

Tony was quiet for a moment, "Why didn't you accept it then?"

Clint shrugged, "I haven't not accepted it yet."

Tony was quiet, unsure of how to respond. He thought Clint was happy with the Avengers, playing this game. Maybe he was wrong. "Well, uh, congratulations." The genius swallowed hard.

Clint nodded and stood up, "Thanks, I'm in desperate need of a shower so if you'll excuse me."

"Oh yeah, of course." Tony mumbled with a half-smile. As soon Clint was a safe distance away Tony stood up and went to his room. He then proceeded to lay face-down in his bed and scream into the pillows. He really just could not win with this guy.

That night Tony shoved on a coat and headed up to the roof, he had asked Jarvis if the Hawk was up there before he embarked. For once the answer was no, but Tony knew it would only be a matter of time before the Archer showed up. It took about fifteen minutes for Tony to hear the door open behind him, a few seconds later Clint joined him on the ledge. Neither of them said a word for what felt like hours. Tony glanced up as he heard Clint sigh, "Tony, what should I do?"

Tony looked over at Clint, meeting his breath-taking blue-grey eyes, "Go."

Clint frowned heavily, "Why?"

"Because you deserve it." Tony crossed his arms across his chest, "Clint, you deserve more than this. You're brilliant and skilled and you shouldn't be risking you're life fighting battles that aren't yours." Tony was lying, he wanted anything but for Clint to go. This was his walls coming up again and he didn't know how to stop them.

Clint ran his hand through his hair and looked back out across the city briefly. He sighed and stood up, "Come visit me in London." The Archer said almost so softly that Tony didn't hear him.

Tony closed his eyes and listened to Clint's footsteps as he walked away. He hadn't reached out for the door handle before Tony got up and raced up behind him, "Clint, wait."

Clint stopped and turned around only to be caught by Tony's embrace. The Genius pressed their lips together as he pushed Clint against the cold metal door. The kiss was needy at first, rushed almost, but then it became slow and tender. A goodbye. When Tony pulled back he put on a classic Tony Stark trademark smile, "I hear London's gorgeous this time of year." And he watched Clint disappear behind the door.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taking me a long time to post new chapters but I've been busy with School and Band but it's summer so hopefully they wont take so long. Also, this chapter is in Clint's POV and it's longer than the rest. Enjoy~

Clint spent the next few days in his room packing and hoping that Tony would burst through the door and ask him not to go. Much to his dismay he didn't see the genius until he was about to leave on Thursday night and everybody said goodbye in the common room. Natasha hugged him and Steve and Bruce shook his hand, Thor smacked him on the back hard enough to knock the air from his lungs and Tony lingered behind the couch.

"You're always an Avenger." Steve promised.

Clint smiled and nodded his head, "Thanks guys, I'll visit as soon as I can." And he picked up his bags and headed for the door, he almost thought he heard Tony whisper a goodbye as he passed but never looked back to check.

He slept on the plane ride and woke up about thirty minutes before they touched down at the SHIELD base just outside of London. They gave him an hour to get settled into his room and change before he was given a tour around base. Since it was basically the headquarters for all European SHIELD operations, it was huge. The Field office was towards the center of the base and Clint hoped that he wouldn't have to stray very far from it (He could get some of the newer but apt agents to do any running around). After the tour he was introduced to the agents that would be working alongside him, he took a close look at the group and quickly picked out the two Agents he wanted to get to trust him.

Agent Ryan was about his height with dark hair and a severe case of five o'clock shadow. He looked strong but not huge like Steve and seemed to have a determined attitude about him. Next to him stood Agent Neal, a very petite brunette who appeared to be around 22. She stood with her hands behind her back glancing around the room. She looked bored, to be honest, but also disciplined. The rest of the Agents seemed capable but no one else really stood out to him.

When he was finished being introduced to the other Agents in the Field office, Clint was given the rest of the day to get to know his way around and meet some of his coworkers. He spent a while wandering the halls and committing certain locations to memory before heading to the cafeteria and making himself a cup of coffee. He turned around to see Agents Ryan and Neal sitting together at one of the tables, he shrugged his shoulders and approached their table. "Mind if I join you?"

The both looked up at him, "Sure." Agent Neal said with a strong English accent and a smile.

Clint nodded and took a seat across of the table from them, starring at them over the lid of his coffee as he sipped it as they stared back at him. He placed his cup down on the table and grinned at them, "I'll introduce myself first," He offered, "Hi, I'm Clint Barton aka Hawkeye. I enjoy long walks on the beach and violently taking down forces of evil."

"I'm Derek Ryan and this is my cousin Amy Neal." Agent Ryan smiled.

Clint nodded, "Good to meet you."

There was a silence for a moment before Amy spoke up, "I thought you were an Avenger, why are you here then?"

"I don't really know," he sighed. "I guess I would rather be the boss than have Captain America and Iron Man breathing down my neck." That was a lie but it sounded reasonable enough that Neal nodded. They spent the next 45 minutes asking him about the Avengers, the questions ranged from 'Is Captain Rogers a hard ass?" (Yes) to "So, you and Black Widow?" (No). By then end of the interrogation Clint was out of coffee and Neal and Ryan had to report back to their posts so Clint headed back to his quarters and took a shower before pulling his laptop out from his bag and laying down on the bed with it.

He opened Skype and signed in, he wasn't surprised to see Tony or Bruce online, they never signed out and were always more than willing to Skype with anyone. The Archer smiled when he saw that Natasha was online, a rare occurrence considering Nat preferred reading to being on the computer. He clicked on the video call button and she picked up in 4 rings, "Please tell me you're wearing pants." She grimaced.

Clint laughed and nodded, rubbing his bare chest. "It's not like you haven't seen it all before anyways."

Tasha shrugged, "How's Great Britain?"

Clint rolled his eyes, "Gloomy and wet and cold."

"That bad?" His best friend asked taking a drink of something.

Clint hesitated, "It's not really that bad it's just different," He shrugged and there was a pause, "How's everyone back home?"

"We're all good," Natasha smiled, "Thor and Captain left a while ago to go do something, Bruce is on his way to get Chinese to share for dinner, and I suppose Tony is in his workshop building something since I haven't seen him all day." That's basically what he had figured, he wondered if they missed him as much as he missed them. There was a noise and Natasha disappeared from screen for a brief moment before reappearing, "Bruce is back with our food, so I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, of course," Clint half smiled, "Hey Nat, do me a favor?"

"Anything." She promised.

"Tell everyone that I miss them."

Natasha smiled and nodded, "See you soon, Hawkeye."

The call ended and Clint shut his laptop and set it on the bedside table. The Archer ran his hands through his still damp hair and yawned. It wasn't late but the time difference was catching up and exhaustion beginning to wash over him. He stood up and made his way to the minimally stocked undersized kitchen and prepped the coffee maker for the morning, on his way back he shut off all of the lights and double checked his alarms before finally crawling into his new bed and forcing himself to succumb to the exhaustion.

Clint adjusted to his new job fairly well over the next month. He could jog through the base with his eyes shut and name every agent in his department without hesitation after the first two weeks alone. He spent a lot of his time with Neal and Ryan, learning more about them and vice versa; gaining there trust and beginning to trust them as well. There weren't many exciting occurrences at the SHIELD base and most of the missions that were played out went as planned, no fuck ups large enough to give Clint any major headaches. No matter how hard he tried to keep them out of his mind, Clint thought of The Avengers almost daily. They were his friends, his team, his family and he missed them.

He missed the complexity of the tower and Jarvis always making smart comments. He missed watching Bruce work in his lab and sparring with Steve in the gym. He missed listening to Thor's incredible stories and watching TV with Natasha. And he missed Tony. He missed Tony's constant bitching about everything. He missed talking to him on the roof and drinking with him on the rare Friday nights that he didn't have some extravagant event to prance off to. Clint smiled when Tony texted him in the afternoon at work, complaining about the rude comment Steve said him and the new experiment with Bruce that ended in the closing of the entire 24th floor.

"What's so great that it's making the stone cold Clint Barton smile?" Agent Neal asked, swiveling her chair around just enough to smack him in the arm with her elbow.

Clint nodded his head, "It's nothing, just a daily update from The Avengers."

"It's barely past noon in New York, how much could have happened?" She asked with a giggle.

Clint shook his head, "You would be surprised."

Before Neal could respond his radio beeped, "Barton, report to control ASAP."

"Roger that." Clint buzzed back, standing up from his chair and heading for Control.

When Clint made it to control he wasn't surprised that the emergency was minor, a weather scare was threatening the drop of an agent but he sorted it out quickly. After the dramatic overreaction to a small problem, The Hawk made his way to the cafeteria, more importantly the coffee maker and poured himself a cup of very black coffee. He sat down at the same table that he usually sat at and within a matter of minutes he was joined by Ryan and Neal.

"How's it hanging, Katniss?" Ryan asked.

Clint almost flinched at his words, the only person who he even let give him ridiculous nicknames was Tony, "Hawks don't hang, they perch." He pointed out.

Ryan nodded and began chatting with Neal about the movie he was going to see with his girlfriend later on while Clint watched the hands on the clock move slowly across its face. About eight minutes passed before Ryan finished the last swallow of his coffee and excused himself to the restroom leaving only Clint and Neal.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Neal asked innocently.

"Probably nothing." Clint shrugged.

"I'm thinking about going out to dinner on Friday," She hesitated, "You could come with me if you want."

Clint looked up from his coffee to Agent Neal. She had a soft face that hid her discipline and strength well and her dark hair was pulled back into a neat bun behind her head and it accented her light brown eyes, sort of like Tony when he slicked his hair back.

"I have to work late of Friday." Clint lied, "Maybe another time though."

Neal forced herself to smile, "Another time, yeah."

After that Clint returned to work for the rest of his shift which seemed to take a lot longer than usual. When he was finally released he went back to his quarters and changed out of his uniform into a pair of sweat pants before going to the restroom and splashing some water on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror, he had bags under his eyes and he hadn't shaved in a few days. He didn't look tired, he looked unhappy.

Clint turned his head when he heard a noise coming from the living room. He wiped his face with a towel padded out to the living room. His laptop was still open from when he checked the weather this morning and the TV was off so he sat down on the couch and glanced at the screen. Tasha was calling him from Skype. "Hey," He said accepting the call.

"Do you own any t-shirts or what, Barton?" Natasha smirked.

Clint could tell she was in her bedroom because the couch she was sitting on was a deep red, "I do but I know how much you enjoy my bare torso so much that I didn't put one on."

Natasha rolled her eyes, "At least you're still humble."

"One of my Agents asked me on a date today." Clint sighed.

Natasha faked a gasp, "What did you say?"

"I turned her down," He shrugged, "Well I said maybe another time."

"Why not now?" Tasha asked, the image going blurry as she picked up her laptop and started walking around with it.

Clint leaned back on the couch, "I dunno, I guess I'm still adjusting." There was a ding and Natasha smiled as she stepped into the elevator, "Hey Bruce."

"Good afternoon Mrs. Romanov." He heard Bruce's scratchy voice greet her.

"What are you up to on this fine day?" Nat asked curiously.

"Working as usual, I'm on my way to ask Tony for his help on this particular project though." Bruce answered and Clint sighed at the mention of Tony, "And what about you?"

"I'm skyping with our favorite feathered friend." Nat said shifting the laptop so that Cling could see Bruce as well as her.

"Well if it isn't my long lost friend, long time no see Clinton." Bruce smiled with a wink.

"It's good to see you too, Doc." Clint nodded.

The elevator dinged again as they came to their floor. Bruce stepped out and Natasha followed him, lagging behind him by a few large steps. "Are you sure you're ever going to adjust their, Clint?" She asked quietly, "I mean you're not exactly saving the world anymore. It's a dramatic change."

Clint rubbed his eyes, "Tell me about it." He grumbled and when he opened his eyes Tasha had stopped walking and was leaning against the windows of Tony's workshop. Over her shoulder he could see Tony laughing with Bruce as he rolled across the room with some sort of projection playing overhead. He frowned as he felt an emptiness work its way into his chest.

"Stop being stubborn and come home," His best friend pleaded, "We both know this is where you belong."

The call ended and Clint closed his laptop, Tasha was right, this wasn't his home and he didn't belong here. He went back to his room and put on a clean uniform on before going back to the control room and resigning his duties, "I'm sorry sir, but I'm an Avenger first and that tower is where I belong."

Officer Sands nodded, "I understand Barton. I wish you and your team the best."

"Thank you, Sir." Clint nodded with a smile before heading back to his quarters again. There were no flights back to New York until late tomorrow so Clint got good nights sleep and spent the morning packing. The plane ride home seemed longer than the previous one had but he arrived at the airport a little after 2 in the afternoon. By the time he made it to the tower it was closer to three. "Jarvis don't tell anyone I'm here but I'm back." He whispered to the AI as he walked in the doors.

"Or course," Jarvis obliged, "Welcome home, Hawkass."

Clint laughed; he had forgotten that Tony had programmed Jarvis to call him Hawkass, "It's good to be back." The assassin went to his floor first and tossed his bag onto his bed. "Where's Tony?" He asked the AI.

"Mr. Stark is on the party deck."

Clint nodded and headed back toward the elevator and headed up to the party deck. He stepped out of the elevator and stopped in his tracks. Tony was sitting on the bar, lip locked with whoever was standing in front of him. "Surprise!" Clint yelled, "I'm home you ass."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the new chapter as promised! Enjoy~

Tony broke the kiss at the sound of Clint's voice ringing through the air, pushing Luke away frantically, "You could have called, you know." He yelled back at Clint wiping his mouth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you would have a visitor." The Archer snapped at him as he walked by and offered a hand to Luke, "Clint Barton, Avenger."

Luke glanced at Tony quickly before taking Clint's hand and shaking it, "Agent Luke Durns."

Clint started laughing loudly, "A SHIELD agent, what a surprise."

"I'm gonna leave." Luke said uncomfortably.

"I'll walk you out." Tony offered.

Luke shook his head, "You have other things to deal with." He said gesturing to a visibly angry Clint.

Tony watched as Luke disappeared behind the elevator doors before shifting his gaze to Clint. He looked visibly agitated with his arms crossed across his chest and a solid expression across his face. "Look, before you blow up on me," Tony began to defend himself but Clint was quick to cut him off.

"You know what Stark, fuck you," Clint yelled pushing him back against the bar. "I've got more important things to deal with than your sorry ass."

Tony watched as Clint stormed out of the room, "I can explain." He said to nobody. He stood up and straightened his shirt out before stepping behind the bar and pouring himself a drink. He drank the whole thing and ran his hands through his already messy hair and started for the labs. Upstairs he headed straight for Bruce's lab; the doctor had been working on making suits for Clint, Nat, and Steve to protect them on any missions that may involve radiation exposure.

"What do you want, Stark?" Bruce asked as Tony stepped in the room without shifting his gaze from the computer.

Tony crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, "How did you know it was me?"

"Jarvis alerted me that a very upset billionaire was headed in my direction." Banner mumbled.

"Fair enough," Tony shrugged stepping closer to Bruce. He looked at the screen for a moment, "Clint's home."

Bruce looked up from the paper he was scribbling on to Tony, "I would say that's a good thing but judging from your expression I'm gonna ask what happened."

Tony sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, "Agent Durns and I were on the party deck talking and he asked me if anything big has changed since Clint had left and so I told him about my thing with Clint and how I was having a little trouble getting over it and then without any warning at all the guy just kissed me."

"People don't just kiss you Tony; you had to have provoked him." Bruce insisted turning to face him.

"I didn't, I swear!" He promised as Bruce rolled his eyes, "Anyways, as Luke was kissing me Clint walks in."

Bruce frowned, "Ouch."

"Tell me about it," Tony sighed heavily.

"He didn't give you time to explain either, did he?" Bruce bet.

Tony shook his head, "He was a little bit more than angry."

His best friend patted him on the back. "Give him some time to cool down and then try to explain yourself," Bruce advised before turning his attention back to his work.

"Thanks bud." Tony nodded and headed to the kitchen to make something to eat. He pulled the jar of Nutella that he had bought for himself out of his secret cabinet and the bread from the pantry. He was spreading Nutella across the second slice of toast when Natasha appeared.

"That better be your Nutella, Stark." She threatened flatly.

Tony jumped a little not having heard her come through the door, "Yeah, of course."

"Clint's back from the island," The assassin's voice was light but in a very deterring way, "I just saw him in the gym wailing on a punching bag."

Tony focused on his toast a little bit more than worried for his health. "Hmmm," He hummed avoiding the conversation.

Natasha stepped closer to him, reaching across his personal space to get something out of the cabinet. "You wouldn't happen to know how he managed to get so frustrated so quickly, would you Stark?"

Tony stepped back out of her way with his toast, "It's complicated okay," He huffed before taking a bite. He watched as Tasha poured an excessive amount of pink lemonade mix into a glass of water and mixed it together with a spoon.

"Whatever is it, you better make it right," She said more sincerely than threatening, "He came home because of you Tony. Not for me, not for the Avengers, because of you. And it took you less than five minutes to screw it up again so fix it."

Tony hung his head as the redhead left the room. He tossed the toast in the trash having lost his appetite as a swift wave of guilt and self-loathing washed over him and headed for his workshop. He sat in the dimly lit room and tinkered with things. He was gonna have to talk to Clint and he wanted to do it now, he wanted to make things right but waiting for Clint to cool down was a good idea. As Tony fiddled with things Tasha's words echoed in his ears, five minutes must be a new record for him. He worked for a few hours before heading off to bed early. He laid awake for a long time trying to think of what he was going to say to Clint but everything seemed insufficient. Eventually he gave up and rolled over, letting darkness wash over him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote this chapter over two nights and i was pleasantly surprised at how long it ended up. Enjoy~

The next day Tony presented at a science conference in Boston with Bruce and they didn't get back to the tower until after midnight. It was already almost noon when Tony climbed out of bed the next day and Natasha said that Clint and Bruce had left already for a 'Boy's Day on the Town' or whatever that implied. Since the billionaire had nothing important scheduled for the day he got dressed and took a car over to the local SHIELD Base to see if anything interesting had been picked up on their radars.

When Iron Man arrived he sauntered past the girl at the front desk, who greeted him with a smile, and headed straight to the labs. SHIELD's tech division was one of the most highly regarded on the planet, not as highly regarded as his own, but still one of the best and there was never any harm in poking around to see what he could get his hands on. Most of what they were working on was weapons, guns and grenades that did some pretty terrible things to anything they happened to be aimed at. Tony of course ducked out of those labs and tried to find something that was more useful than destructive. While he was snooping around he backed out of a lab and right into an agent, "Sorry! Sorry!" He apologized before even turning around to see who he had bumped into, "I didn't see you there." His voice getting heavy after realizing he had walked right into Agent Durns.

Luke smiled, "Calm down, you barely scratched me."

"No harm, no foul." Tony half laughed.

Luke looked at him for a long time and his smile grew smaller, "Wanna go get a coffee?"

Tony looked around for a moment and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, "Uh, yeah, sounds great."

Luke grinned with a nod and lead Tony through the maze that they called HQ to a nice sized break room that was all but empty. Durns waved his hand towards a table and Tony sat down as he watched the agent pour two cups of black coffee and join him back at the table, sliding Tony's cup across the table to him in such a swift manner that Tony had no doubt he was skilled just like Hill or Coulson.

They both took a drink of coffee and then Luke spoke, "Look, I'm sorry about what happened the other day at the tower." He apologized, "I didn't know that Agent Barton was gonna walk in and even then I still had no excuse to kiss you like that."

Tony took another drink of his coffee, finishing it off and tossing it into the trash can to his right. "Yeah, it's not your fault that Clint barged in and it's not like I stopped you from kissing me in the first place so all is forgiven on my part." The genius shrugged with a smile, "But Katniss may not be so forgiving."

"Have you talked to him yet?"

"Nope" The genius shook his head, "I figured it would be best to let him cool down a little first, and plus I really haven't had the chance yet."

"When you do get to talk to him make sure that he knows that you're all his and that I'm sorry for poaching on his territory," Durns smiled.

"Roger that," Tony promised with a laugh. He stood up and offered a hand to Luke who stood and shook it.

After his unexpected meeting with Durns, Stark ran into his long lost team mates and grudgingly agreed to drive them home. The God of Thunder and Captain Rogers had been in California training some new recruits as a favor for Coulson and had just returned to New York unannounced to Tony. He drove home with the radio on to avoid any possible lecturing from the Captain and quickly slipped away once they got home.

Tony grabbed a granola bar and a glass of lemonade on his way up to his room and finished them before the elevator even reached his floor. He threw the granola wrapper in the trash and set the cup down on his night stand before flopping down on his bed and stretching out, "Jarvis!"

"Yes, Mr. Stark?"

"I'm bored."

"You're a billionaire playboy, not to mention a superhero, and you're bored?" Jarvis lipped off.

Tony sighed "Exactly!"

"What do you want me to do about this dilemma?" The AI asked.

"I don't know." The genius said sitting up and taking off his jacket.

There was a pause before Jarvis answered, "You could go swimming in the indoor pool you spent all of that money on."

"Actually, that sounds like a great idea," Tony exclaimed pulling off his shirt and heading to his closet to find a pair of swimming trunks.

"Your swimming trunks are in the dresser to your left."

Tony spun around and pulled open the drawers until he found the bright red and white swimming shorts, "Thanks, J!"

Tony quickly changed into his trunks and grabbed a towel before he headed down to the gym were the pool was installed. It was a last minute addition he thought of after watching the Olympics and to be honest, he had been neglecting to use it. He threw his towel over one of the towel racks and dived into the deep end. The water was cool but not so much that it was uncomfortable. He stayed under for a while before coming back up for air somewhere near the center of the pool, slicking his hair back out of his face. It was really relaxing to not have to support his own weight for once; well he did it all of the time in the Iron Man suit but those were usually stressful situations, not relaxing at all really.

The billionaire floated around the pool for a long time, letting all of the tension and kinks in his muscles disappear. After a while of floating from one end to the other, Tony had an idea for a new pool toy and was smiling at his own genius when he heard the gym doors open. He swam to the side of the pool and folded his arms on the deck, resting his chin on them. It was no surprise to see Clint and Natasha walking through the gym together laughing but Tony couldn't stop the ping of jealously that shuddered through him. He frowned and let go of the wall, letting himself sink to the bottom of the pool. He sat on the floor of the pool for as long as possible before coming up for air again, pulling his hair back and wiping his face before he opened his eyes and was face to face with Natasha, who was lying on the edge of the deck; probably stalking him so she could slit his throat for not talking to Clint yet.

"Jesus Natasha!" He whelped nearly peeing himself. The assassin huffed a long sigh and rolled her eyes while Tony regained his composure. "I'm gonna fix it Nat, I'm a mechanic and an inventor, fixing things is what I do." He promised as she continued glaring at him.

"What are you doing, Nat?" Clint's voice sounded after a loud thud.

Natasha stood up and turned to Clint, "Just having a chat with our resident mechanic." Her voice was light but it had a slight edge to it that made Tony want to flinch. "I just remember that Bruce wanted to see me tonight for measurements or something so I'll see you in the morning."

Tony watched as Natasha disappeared out of the doors. He sighed and pushed himself out of the water and grabbing his towel of the rack. "Clint," The genius called trying to catch up with the marksman, who was already headed to the other side of the gym, and drying his hair leaving it damp and hanging in his face. "Hey, seriously wait up!"

"What!?" Clint yelled turning around.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Stark asked catching up to him.

"Don't you have a date with Agent Durns or something?" Barton sassed.

"If you don't let me talk to you I'm going to have Bruce hulk out and hold your ass down so that you don't have a choice." Tony threatened grossing his arms.

The Archer rolled his eyes and flopped to the floor, sitting Indian style on the gym mat. "Did Natasha threaten you?"

Tony spread his towel out on the mat and sat down in front of Clint, "Well yeah, but even if she hadn't I still would have wanted to talk to you."

"Fine, talk."

"Okay first, I missed you and I'm glad that you came home. I'm not so glad that you have the worst timing on the planet and walked in on Durns trying to suck my lips off of my face." Clint smiled a little, "Seriously that guy is a terrible kisser, nowhere near as talented as you my feathered friend."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Stark." The Hawk said, the hard look coming back.

"You know it will," Tony winked, "But honestly Clint, he kissed me. I was talking about how much I missed you and for some reason he kissed me."

There was a brief silence before Clint responded, "That's what Bruce said at lunch today."

"So you believe me, right?"

"I suppose," Clint nodded, "But you aren't off the hook yet."

Tony raised an eyebrow, "That sounds mildly dangerous but yet very fun."

Hawkeye rolled his eyes and stood up, offering Tony a hand, "For the record Stark, people do just kiss you."

"It must be my charm." He shrugged walking next to Clint back towards the pool.

Clint shoved him a bit, "Yeah, must be." They walked next to each other back to the pool and stood at the edge, "So, am I a better kisser than Pepper?"

Tony thought a minute, "I really can't say, I kissed Pepper a lot of times in a lot of ways so I'm a little bias. You are a better kisser than Natasha though."

"Wait, when did you kiss Natasha?" Clint asked surprised.

"New Years. We were pretty drunk though so that might have been why it wasn't spectacular." He shrugged, "I thought she would have told you."

"Same," Clint muttered, "Any other comparisons?"

"Hmm," The genius thought, "Considering I've never kissed Thor or Steve and never plan to I'm gonna guess that you kiss better than them but Bruce is a pretty good kisser."

Clint nodded, "Yeah, Bruce is good at kissing."

"Whoa, when did you kiss Bruce?" This time it was Tony who was surprised.

"His birthday," Clint shrugged, "I forgot to get him a gift so I figured kissing him was the best gift I could give him on such short notice."

"The real question is: Am I a better kisser than Bruce?" Stark asked with a smirk.

"Don't get too cocky Stark; I think the good doctor might just have you beat." The Archer laughed.

Tony felt jealousy flow through him, "I guess I'll just have to change that."

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Clint asked stepping closer and grabbing Tony's waist.

"Both." Tony whispered. They were so close Tony could feel The Archers breath against his cheek, and just when Tony was about to bring their lips together the floor disappeared from underneath him and he went flying into the pool. The water felt colder this time as he planted his feet on the bottom and propelled himself to the surface, gasping for air. "Hey!" He yelled as Clint walked away, "What the hell was that for!?"

"I told you," Clint said turning briefly, "You're still not off the hook."

Tony sighed as Clint vanished through the door; this was going to be more difficult than he originally thought.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached the end! I've decided to cut this fic off at 12 chapters. There are many ways i could continue it but I personally dont like fics that seem to drag on forever. I hope you've enjoyed my story as much as I have. Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favs!

Avengers Tower was fairly peaceful for the next four days. Without and fights, arguments, or pranks Tony was mostly bored. He spent some time in the pool that he was growing very fond of and the rest in his workshop making small improvements to his tech. The Archers was around, Tony bumped into him a few times and the chatted about small things. Stark was just happy that he had his friend back, even if he did want something more than a friendship with Clint. He could wait until the stubborn agent was ready to 'let him off of the hook' or whatever that meant.

By late Saturday afternoon, Tony was ready to declare the last five days the least eventful in Avengers history when there was a very loud boom that rocked the whole city and sending all of The Avengers to the situation room.

"Finally, some action!" Clint yelled as he ran past Tony from the elevator.

"Tell me about it!" Iron Man laughed following him into the situation room. The other 4 Avengers were already in their seats around the table. "What's shaking the city, Spangles?"

Rogers rolled his eyes, "Play the footage, Jarvis."

Above them a scene played out. What seemed to be some sort of pod flew into the picture and crashed on the edge of Central Park, shaking the entire picture. After the smoke had somewhat cleared, the pod opened and people emerged from it. From who Tony could get a good look at it was a large variety of guys. From what looked like your everyday scumbag to mutants and self-created villains.

"Why can't we let the Fantastic Four or the X-Men deal with it?" Bruce asked annoyed, he had probably been in the middle of some sort of scientific breakthrough when the pod landed.

"The X-Men are in Africa on a mission and The Fantastic Four are in Germany." Natasha spoke up.

"Okay, then we let SHIELD deal with it." Banner huffed.

"Stop being such a party pooper!" Clint exclaimed bouncing in his seat.

"We're responding." Steve declared loudly. "Most of these guys are going to be easy enough to take down. There's no need for lethal force, disarm and disable only."

Clint grumbled under his breath and Natasha still looked bored. Tony stood up and clapped his hands loudly, "You heard the man, suit up!"

The grouped up a block from the crash site and Captain America barked out orders. It was the same as most incidents. Clint was look out, Tony created a perimeter, Thor and Hulk were to take on anyone who seemed extremely dangerous, and Steve and Natasha got to run in head on. The team split up and Tony made a quick lap around the perimeter. Thor and Banner were dealing with a mutant who seemed to have a very hard outer covering while Steve and Natasha were having a good old fashion fight with some low lives. Clint had managed to scale a taller tree and was watching from above, letting arrows go left and right.

It didn't take long for the flying mutants to find Iron Man and start chasing him. Stark sighed and flew lower, causing the ones with wings to get caught by trees and flying the ones who made it out over Thor and Bruce, letting them pick them out of the air. After all of the one's who could fly were taken care of Iron Man landed near the pod. "Scan it, J."

"It's regular tech, built with materials from all over the world. Probably launched from a ship off of the coast." The AI responded after a moment.

"Disable all of its functions so we have somewhere to put all of these idiots when we're finished." Tony asked walking off and joining Captain Rogers and Black Widow.

The Avengers managed to capture as many of the fugitives as they could find without completely destroying the park. No one was seriously injured from either side of the battle and Thor hadn't even broken a sweat. Tony flipped up his visor and grinned, "Avengers: one, Bad Guys: zero."

Steve smiled as he helped Thor load the captured back onto their pod to wait for SHIELD to take them away to wherever they took all of the people The Avenger apprehended. Natasha was leaning on a bench talking to the un-hulked Banner. Clint emerged from the tree line, "I still have arrows left," He smirked. "The net equipped ones worked the best. Thanks again, Stark."

"You're welcome." Tony winked. A beep sounded from his helmet and he closed the visor. The screen was in infra-red mode and Tony could see a heat signature that wasn't one of his team mates rushing from the brush at Clint's back. Iron Man dashed across the clearing stopping barely inches from Hawkeye's back, reaching out and grabbing the invisible man by his raised wrist. He wrenched the man's arms around hard, making him fall to his knees.

Tony raised his visor again as the man started to become visible. He had dark hair and broad shoulders, his face was twisted with pain from the hold that Tony had on his arm and something feel to the grass. Stark let go of his arm and he clasped to the ground, holding his arm and moaning. The genius reached down and picked up the blade that had been dropped, turning it slowly in his hand as he turned back around to the group.

"Nice save, Stark." Steve said sincerely as the color returned to the faces of his friends.

He nodded his head and looked at Clint with a soft smile. He held out the knife that had been meant for The Archers back and Clint took it without saying anything. Tony reached back down and grabbed the man who was still moaning and dragged him to the pod.

SHIELD arrived soon after to take over the scene, releasing The Avengers to continue with their lives as long as they all filled out a full report. Tony rolled his eyes and made Jarvis do it for him on the way back to the tower. As soon as he got out of the Iron Man suit, Tony made an ice pack and strapped it to shoulder that was starting to ache. The sun had all but disappeared as Tony retired to his workshop to watch the news by himself.

When the news was over Tony freed his shoulder from the ice pack and pulled a beer from the mini fridge. He sat down at his desk and picked up his tablet with his free hand, reading all of the crazy online theories on the attack.

"Hey." A voice sounded from behind him, scaring him enough that he almost dropped his tablet and his beer.

"You seriously need to stop sneaking up on me," He sighed setting the tablet down and turning to see Clint standing in front of the door.

The Hawk smiled, "I'm afraid I can't do that Stark."

Tony stood up, "Why is that?"

"It's too easy." He shrugged, "Plus, it makes you mad."

The billionaire rolled his eyes as he grabbed a beer out of the fridge and handed it to Clint, "Whatever you say, Birdie." Tony sat back down in his desk chair, rolling it over towards the couch. "Please, sit." He invited the Agent as he gestured at the sofa.

Clint nodded and took a seat, opening his beer and taking a long swallow.

There was a pause as Tony finished off his beer, "To what do I owe the visit to, Mr. Barton?" He asked as he tossed the empty bottle into the trash.

"Mostly so I could thank you for saving my ass today, so thanks for saving my ass today." Clint said tipping his beer in Tony's direction.

Tony felt his face get warm, "It was my pleasure."

Clint took another drink before he sighed, "And I also wanted to tell you that I forgive you."

"Really?" Tony asked trying not to sound too excited.

Clint rolled his eyes, "Yes, really. Look, I'm not an easy person to get close to Tony. I'm rough around the edges to say the least and there's a lot of stuff that still haunts me. It takes time for me to open up and probably some digging on your part but you did save my life so I guess I have no choice but to let you off the hook." There was an uneasy silence as Clint looked nervously at Tony waiting for to respond. "Anything you would like to add?"

He laughed, "And I thought I talked too much." And Tony was kissing Clint. For once the kiss wasn't forceful or angry, it was soft and warm. Clint reached up and tangled his fingers in Tony's hair, stopping him from pulling away. Eventually Tony parted from Clint and smiled, gently touching the arm that Clint was holding onto him with.

"I'm exhausted." Clint whispered stifling a yawn.

Tony stood up straight, "Me too."

Clint stood up and gave Tony another quick kiss, "Good night Tin Man."

"Night, Cupid." He smiled as he watched him head for the door, "Hey, Clint?"

"Yeah?" He asked turning around at the door.

"Wanna go to dinner tomorrow?"

Clint smiled, "Now why would you want to take me to dinner?" He teased.

Tony shrugged, "I've got some digging to do."

The End.


	13. Epilogue

"I cannot believe you convinced me to do this." Clint whispered loudly.

Tony gave a low chuckle, "It's all gonna be worth it."

Clint's eyes narrowed, "It better be."

"How come you never believe me?" The genius whined.

"It's not that I don't believe you so much as I'm the one that always takes the blame." He explained poking Tony in the side.

"Shhhhh," Tony insisted shoving Clint, "The elevator's on Cap's floor."

Clint grabbed the popcorn from the table in front of the couch that they were spread out on and shoved a handful into his mouth before offering his better half some. Tony took some and popped it into his mouth, focused intently on the large screen.

Natasha was in Hawaii recruiting, Thor was off planet and Bruce was keeping Jane Foster company, and Steve had been on a mission for almost three weeks now. With everyone else gone, Tony had thought of some pretty unique ways to keep the couple occupied while they watched over the tower and New York. Clint rolled his eyes at Tony who was already laughing while the monitor showed Steve punching in his key code to his room. The door opened and The Captain stepped in, shutting it quickly behind him.

"3, 2, 1…" Tony counted through giggles.

"TOOOOOOOONNNNYYYYYYYYY!" Rogers screamed, and Tony and Clint lost all composure, popcorn flying everywhere.

They were still laughing as Steve charged into the room holding a Canadian flag, "What the heck is this!?" He yelled.

"A flag" Tony said trying (and failing) to be serious, Clint still giggling like a four year old.

"I was on a mission for a month and I finally get to come home and what do I find?" Steve said trying to keep his cool but his face was a red with anger. He waited for an answer but the devious duo was still trying to stop laughing. "You idiots turned my room into the Canadian Embassy!"

"Jarvis!" Tony yelled, "You never said hi to Steve!"

"Welcome home, Commander Canada." The AI said smoothly causing Steve to moan loudly before stomping out of the room, leaving Iron Man and Hawkeye on the couch holding their stomachs as they tried to breathe normally again.

"I can't believe we did that." Clint said when they finally collected themselves.

Tony smiled and wrapped his arm around his archer, "Wait until I post the video online."

"You wouldn't dare!" Clint gasped.

"You would think lower of me if I didn't." Tony pointed out.

Clint chuckled and kissed him, "Yeah, I would."

Then Steve reappeared, "I knew that you two falling in love would only cause problems." He muttered as he passed by.

"Don't hate just because you don't understand!" Tony yelled and Clint rolled his eyes.

They did love each other. Clint would do anything for Tony and Tony for Clint. They got a long and made each other laugh. Clint could keep up with Tony's quick remarks and follow him on his long scientific rants and Tony didn't mind that Clint didn't have much to say. Even though Clint had been mad at Tony for finding that video footage, he was grateful that Tony couldn't mind his own business because his snooping led to something that Clint had never had before.

The Archer fixed the thins silver chain around his neck, tucking the palladium promise ring that Tony gave him on their three month anniversary inside of his shirt before kissing Tony gently.

"Love you, cupid." Tony murmured.

"You too, Tin Man."


End file.
